Today’s Scrip-Bit 11 December 2020 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.     ​Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

And then it was Friday; the day we all so look forward to because it means the end of our work week and the beginning of our partying time. (smile) But yuh know what? Plenty of us haven’t worked for a long time, neither partied for a long while, and plenty of us won’t be working or partying for an even longer while, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which seems to spread very rapidly when we gather together in large groups without masks and taking the other necessary precautions. 

Unfortunately though, too many of us are ignoring the limitations and still gathering in large groups and partying regardless, and that’s one of the reasons why the Covid-19 count is still reaching record highs every day! Steups! And that’s how the supposedly smartest creature on the planet is behaving. Hn! But that’s just my take on the subject though, let’s see what the ordinary working man has to say about it all. 

And he ambles up in a contrary mood. ‘Why yuh telling me about TGIF, Thank God is Friday eh? What is there to thank God for this Friday a couple weeks before Christmas? Ah don’t have no work, and no decent money coming in. The li’l pittance the government promise could barely pay mih rent! They not even telling me about when I could go back to work – if ah even going to have a work to go back to when all this nonsense done! 

All they telling me is to stay home and to social distance and to wear masks if I go out. But where ah getting the money from to buy the blooming mask and them eh? All ah hearing is about a vaccine coming soon…but how soon is soon eh? And then yuh hearing so much bad things about the vaccine an’ them, how deh using them to change people DNA and inject them with the mark of the beast and what not…so what’s a poor body to do eh, how to know truth from fiction eh? Steups! 

This world in such a mess eh? And when yuh add in the antics of the fool and his bunch of foolish cronies down in the U.S…. well is only bad and negative things could come out of it all yes! Ah sorry for mih children and them yes, because they surely going to have a very hard world to navigate through oui!’ 

And isn’t that the indisputable truth my brethren! This world is going to be much harder to navigate when all the nonsense we currently going through ends. And yes, it will end at some stage of the game, but how and when are the unknown, but the two most important variables right now. So like the ordinary workingman asks, what’s a body to do eh? The first thing is to obey the rules and regulations; do your part in not spreading the virus. And as yuh doing that, simultaneously turn to Almighty God and pray; pray like you’ve never done before. 

Like Bruh Paul said to the Thessalonians: ‘Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.’ (1 Thess. 5:17-18) And if we’d take a moment and ponder our recent past, and be truthful about it, we’d realize that neither of those two things; praying and giving thanks, have been our strongpoints in the last decade or so. No wonder our world is in such a mess. If the Lord desires prayer and thanksgiving, and we’re refusing, how can our world function properly and efficiently eh? No way Jose! 

So let’s see if we can’t begin to straighten out those problems right now nuh…Yes my people, right now we going to start to pray and give thanks on a regular basis – that’s if we want our world to survive in a reasonable state. So for those of us who desire such an outcome, let’s go to God right now, in humble adoration and unburden our heavy and weary hearts to Him, through our Friday Chant. 

As one strong voice now, in all sincerity: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. Yuh know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and the racial strife causing. We not accustomed to that kind of life Lord, and it really telling on us. And we know we can’t handle it on our own, that we desperately need your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. 

So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the sure and wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, so that we can avoid any more serious setbacks. And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to also bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. 

It’s also a good opportunity to introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion because of the way we, your faithful believers, handle the situation. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

Now we can’t just say that prayer, hopefully with sincere hearts, and expect all our troubles to vanish into thin air. No! We need to keep on praying and giving thanks and being obedient to the government’s rules and regulations, as well as the Lord’s, except where they conflict, and then the Lord’s governance takes control. It’s the only way friends. 

But many many more of us have to seriously buy into that solution for it to come to fruition. The relatively small number now seriously involved is definitely not enough to turn things around. So I guess it behooves us to talk to others so that they can buy in. And that’s all Jesus is asking of us: to tell people about Him and His word. And after all that He’s sacrificed on our behalf, is that so much to ask? Not really. Much LOVE!

…for our world to run properly…Jesus must be NUMBER ONE… 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 December 2020 Isaiah 59:2.

Isaiah 59:2.     ​But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Well folks, we real late this snowy Friday morning. And if by chance yuh wondering why, it’s the same ole excuse; late to bed, late to rise. Hn! This morning was a real late one too. I won’t even tell you all what time I went to bed. (smile) But suffice it to say that I am now up, alive and kicking butt! So let’s turn right away to the words of the ordinary workingman, no time for me to ‘lablache’ this morning. (smile) 

And he begins with a shake of his tired head and a sour ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! But why eh? What ah thanking Him for eh? Ah don’t have no work, or money, and ah don’t know when next I going to have either of them because of this Covid-19 business! Steups! What ‘s happening to our country…and our world eh? Ah doing my part, behaving responsible and staying in mih yard and yet still the Covid-19 numbers not going down, but staying up. So what is the problem eh? 

Like is just me and my family who being responsible, and everybody else just going about their business regardless? And to make it worse, ah not seeing any money coming from the government like I did before. So what they expect me to do eh? They shut down mih workplace, and begging me to stay home, how they expect me to feed mih children eh? We can’t exist on wind pie and nothing chops for ever! And they keep talking about a vaccine coming soon…but how soon is soon eh? When half the people dead? 

Ah Lord eh! And every day ah hearing or reading how the rich getting richer in this pandemic time…Hn! Yuh believe it? But it must be true, otherwise they wouldn’t keep on saying it. Now why should that surprise me eh, when I know from long time that the rich don’t really give a darm about the poor, is only talk deh talk! 

Deh not only rich, but they could talk a good talk too, till even the poor man believe what deh say. Deh great at doublespeak, or as the Indians use to say in the movies, they speak with forked tongues. But what to do eh? I guess I just have to keep on praying, looking to God for some kinda relief yes, because it don’t seem like any coming from man nuh!’ 

Now friends, that’s the most sensible idea right now yes. Look to God for relief. But let me read you a passage from Isaiah why that might be a somewhat difficult task too. It all has to do with national corruption and consequent suffering. Isaiah informed Israel thus: ‘Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 

For your hands are defiled with blood (bloodshed), and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity (empty words), and speak lies; they conceive mischief (trouble or evil), and bring forth iniquity.’ (Is. 59:1-4) And so it goes on – the sins of the people of Israel for another 15 verses. 

And also our iniquity my brethren, for it’s our sinfulness that’s keeping us from God! We can’t expect to be abominable, unrepentant sinners and still receive God’s grace and mercy! It just doesn’t work like that. If we expect to have good times in our land, then we need to be obedient to God and His word. Worship Him in spirit and truth, not just talk. 

Remember all the promises He made? Remember most of them depended on us being sincere and obedient? And there’s no way we can say that our current world is either obedient or true to God and His word. So obviously there are consequences to our disobedience and demonic worship, and right now we’re experiencing the fruits of our disobedience and outright, doh care sinfulness. So there’s no one to blame but ourselves. 

However, our God is such a wonderful Deity that He has also made provision for us to turn from our sinful ways and be reconciled to Him. So what say we use wisdom this very day and turn to Him for succour eh? Let’s do what He says, pray in earnest, with right motives in our hearts. So what we waiting for eh? Let’s get on our sinful knees and divulge the contents of our hearts to Him, through our Friday Chant. 

Altogether now: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. Yuh know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and the racial strife causing. We not accustomed to that kind of life Lord, and it really telling on us. And we know we can’t handle it on our own, that we desperately need your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. 

So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the sure and wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, so that we can avoid any more serious setbacks. And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to also bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. 

It’s also a good opportunity to introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion because of the way we, your faithful believers, handle the situation. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And I don’t need to remind us that the Lord won’t bother with us if, or when He looks at our hearts and found insincerity and selfish motives there. So we better had buck up and be faithful believers and handle the situation properly! Much LOVE!

…it won’t get better…until we get better…